Such a clamping mechanism encircles the structural components to be interconnected in a clamping plane or planes with a plurality of clamping elements that are held together by at least one, preferably two tensioning members such as belts, straps, cables or the like. The clamping elements are arranged on the radially inwardly facing surface of the tensioning member or members. In the operating position the clamping elements engage flanges of the structural components. The at least one tensioning member such as a belt forms at its ends loops or eyes that extends around bolts which in turn are positioned perpendicularly to a tensioning force that extends circumferentially around the structural components, or rather around the above mentioned tensioning plane or planes of these components. Two such bolts which extend in parallel to a longitudinal system axis are interconnected by a tensioning assembly that includes two tensioning levers which releasably interconnect the two bolts. The tensioning levers are hinged to a mounting and carry the tensioning bolts in such a way that moving the tensioning levers into a locking position displaces the tensioning bolts in a tensioning direction. The tensioning assembly further includes a locking mechanism which assures that the two tensioning levers cannot be opened unintentionally.
An apparatus of the type described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,968 B2 which corresponds to German Patent Publication DE 100 33 093. The known clamping mechanism is used for interconnecting a payload with an end stage of a carrier rocket. When the rocket and payload reach the target orbit, the tensioning member or members are released.
Other clamping mechanisms used for this purpose are known as so-called Marman clamping connections. One such connection is, for example, disclosed in German Patent Publication DE-OS 2,655,772, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,921. A “Marman” tensioning connector also comprises clamping elements on the inner surface of a tensioning belt or strap. The clamping elements on the inwardly facing surface of the tensioning belt or strap are provided with conical recesses which cooperate with correspondingly shaped flanges of interface rings forming part of the structural components to be interconnected. When the two structural components are to be separated, the tensioning belts or straps with their clamping elements are pulled off by a pyrotechnically controlled explosion, whereby the structural components separate from one another.
German Patent Publication 37 27 448 C2, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,816 and German Patent Publication DE 42 21 525, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,349 A1 disclose clamping mechanisms for the same purpose. All known mechanisms are equipped with belts or straps which in turn carry on their inwardly facing surfaces clamping elements provided with conical recesses for the engagement of respectively formed flanges or interface rings of the components to be interconnected.
Since the opening of the tensioning or clamping mechanism is performed by a pyrotechnical explosion, the separation takes place within microseconds so that the tension release must also take place in such a short time duration. The clamping elements must also be separated from the flanges or interface rings in such a short duration. As a result, very substantial dynamic loads may be introduced into the structural components. Such substantial loads have frequencies that reach from low frequencies to high frequencies which can trigger respective vibrations in the structural components. Further, these loads may be imposed on areas of the structural components above and below the separation systems. The low to high frequency loads are triggered by the pyrotechnical separation in the form of resulting shock waves and by the energy release that takes place due to the release of the tensioning forces in the straps or belts. These dynamic loads propagate into the neighboring components and systems of the rocket and of the payload.
In order to avoid such introduction of dynamic loads into the structural components, systems have been suggested in the above mentioned German Patent Publication DE 42 21 525 A1 and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,968 B2, which make possible an opening operation that is controlled and slowed down. Particularly U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,968 B2 discloses a mechanism that drastically reduces the above mentioned dynamic loads since it avoids the triggering of such loads by not using a pyrotechnical separation force and because it simultaneously provides a slow down that is 30 to 50 times slower compared to other known mechanism of this type. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement even in the mechanism according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,968 B2 with regard to the suppression of the triggering of resonance frequencies or low frequency vibrations in the structural components when the strapping or clamping mechanism is released.